Row over Vatican order to conceal priests' sex abuse

A confidential order issued by the Vatican 40 years ago instructing Roman Catholic bishops to conceal cases of sex abuse is set to reignite controversy over the church's treatment of suspect priests.

The document, On the Manner of Proceeding in Cases of the Crime of Solicitation, and bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII, threatened those who spoke out about the inquiries with excommunication.

Distributed to senior clerics all over the world in 1962, it was discovered in the Vatican's archives by a Texan lawyer pursuing cases on behalf of American victims of abuse by Catholic priests.

Its authenticity is accepted by the Catholic church in England and Wales but its relevance to modern procedures for dealing with incidents of abuse is disputed.

The 69-page document, written by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, deals primarily with any priest who "tempts a penitent... in the act of sacramental confession... towards impure or obscene matters". But it also covers related aspects of this "unspeakable crime" and even mentions "sex with brute animals".

Bishops who received the order were instructed to pursue these cases "in the most secretive way... restrained by a perpetual silence". Everyone involved, including the alleged victim, was sworn "to observe the strictest secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office... under penalty of excommunication".

The "worst crime" is defined as "any obscene external deed, gravely sinful", carried out by a cleric "with a person of his own sex". The document is described as "strictly confidential" and not to be published.

The discovery comes as the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, faces accusations of covering up allegations of child abuse when he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.

The US lawyer who found the document, Daniel Shea, said: "It proves there was an international conspiracy to hush up sex abuse issues."

Richard Scorer, a British lawyer who acts for children abused by Catholic priests, told the Observer: "We always suspected that the Catholic church systematically covered up abuse and tried to silence victims... Threatening excommunication to anybody who speaks out shows the lengths the most senior figures in the Vatican were prepared to go to prevent the information getting out.".

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor has been criticised for not reporting to the police in the 1980s an allegation of abuse against a priest in his diocese, Michael Hill, who was later convicted of abusing nine children. Last month he was told he would not face any charges.